Islanders Start League Campaign With a Win

The Islanders started their league campaign with a difficult match up against the treble winners last year the Chelmsford Warriors.

After a dominant start to the period, the Islanders lit the lamp just after the ten minute mark. A beautiful pass from Shaun Yardley found Leon Groom in acres of space, and Groom fired the puck into the net to get the first Islanders goal of the 16/17 season. The Islanders continued to dominate the period, but were made to pay by the Warriors on the Powerplay late in the period. Ross Brears found Tom Wilson in space and Wilson made no mistake scoring and tying the game at the end of the first Period.

Just over 2 minutes into the second period, and Groom got his second goal of the game, after some neat work from John Brammall and Yardley, Leon sent a slap shot on net and put the Islanders in the lead again. It didn't stop there as the Islanders got their third goal of the game courtesy of Connor Stokes, using his speed to beat the defender and neatly finishing off a breakaway to give the Islanders a two goal lead going into the final period.

The Islanders knew that the next goal was crucial in this game and they got that goal just 39 seconds into the period. After chasing down an icing call, Nathan Pollard faked the shot and finished a tidy wrap around goal to give the Islanders a 3 goal cushion. The Islanders fifth goal came just over a minute later, with Yardley finishing off a rebound after some hard work down low from Kenny Bavin and Clint Herring. No further goals in this game, but plenty of saves made from Dan Lane and Billy Cyril Cook in the Warriors net to keep the score at 5-1.

Islanders had 38 shots in total to the Warriors 26.

Man of the match was Leon Groom.

The Islanders are at home on Saturday 17th September as they open up their cup campaign against a Lee Valley Lions team who have added new faces to their roster and this be a very exciting game.